Systems and Methods for Podcast Playback

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for podcast playback in a system including a playback device and a mobile device as a system controller are disclosed. In one embodiment, a playback system comprising a first playback device and a mobile device, the mobile device comprising computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable to perform a method comprising capturing user input selecting an alarm function, capturing user input selecting a time for playing an alarm on the first playback device, capturing user input selecting a podcast channel, updating the graphical user interface to reflect the selected podcast channel, capturing user input specifying what order to play podcast episodes from the selected podcast channel, and starting playback of a first podcast episode on the first playback device according to the specified order to play podcast episodes by the previous user input and the selected time for playing an alarm.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The current application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/275,197, entitled “Systems and Methods for Podcast Playback,”filed Feb. 13, 2019, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is related to consumer goods and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, products, features, services, andother elements directed to media playback or some aspect thereof.

BACKGROUND

Options for accessing and listening to digital audio in an out-loudsetting were limited until in 2002, when SONOS, Inc. began developmentof a new type of playback system. Sonos then filed one of its firstpatent applications in 2003, entitled “Method for Synchronizing AudioPlayback between Multiple Networked Devices,” and began offering itsfirst media playback systems for sale in 2005. The Sonos Wireless HomeSound System enables people to experience music from many sources viaone or more networked playback devices. Through a software controlapplication installed on a controller (e.g., smartphone, tablet,computer, voice input device), one can play what she wants in any roomhaving a networked playback device. Media content (e.g., songs,podcasts, video sound) can be streamed to playback devices such thateach room with a playback device can play back corresponding differentmedia content. In addition, rooms can be grouped together forsynchronous playback of the same media content, and/or the same mediacontent can be heard in all rooms synchronously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods for playing back podcasts on a mobile device using agraphical user interface are disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technologymay be better understood with regard to the following description,appended claims, and accompanying drawings, as listed below. A personskilled in the relevant art will understand that the features shown inthe drawings are for purposes of illustrations, and variations,including different and/or additional features and arrangements thereof,are possible.

FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of an environment having a mediaplayback system configured in accordance with aspects of the disclosedtechnology.

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the media playback system of FIG. 1Aand one or more networks.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of a playback device in accordance withcertain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram of a playback device in accordance withcertain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a network microphone device in accordancewith certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1F is a block diagram of a network microphone device in accordancewith certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a playback device in accordance withcertain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1H is a partial schematic diagram of a control device in accordancewith certain embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 1-I through 1L are schematic diagrams of corresponding mediaplayback system zones in accordance with certain embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 1M is a schematic diagram of media playback system areas inaccordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2A is a front isometric view of a playback device configured inaccordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a front isometric view of the playback device of FIG. 3Awithout a grille.

FIG. 2C is an exploded view of the playback device of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3A is a front view of a network microphone device configured inaccordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3B is a side isometric view of the network microphone device ofFIG. 3A.

FIG. 3C is an exploded view of the network microphone device of FIGS. 3Aand 3B.

FIG. 3D is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 3B.

FIG. 3E is a block diagram of the network microphone device of FIGS.3A-3D in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3F is a schematic diagram of an example voice input.

FIGS. 4A-4D are schematic diagrams of a control device in various stagesof operation in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is front view of a control device in accordance with certainembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a message flow diagram of a media playback system inaccordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 7-11 illustrate graphical user interface screens showing variousinformational screens for selecting podcast playback on a mobile devicein accordance with certain embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 12-17 illustrate graphical user interface screens showing variousoptions for selecting podcast playback on a mobile device in accordancewith certain embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 18-25 illustrate graphical user interface screens for settingcustom alarms using podcasts on a mobile device in accordance withcertain embodiments of the invention.

The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments,but those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that thetechnology disclosed herein is not limited to the arrangements and/orinstrumentality shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

Embodiments described herein relate to providing one more playbackdevices with podcast playback capabilities, including the ability tolocate podcast episodes, subscribe to podcasts, and use podcasts inother ways that can be managed and controlled using a mobile devicehaving a graphical user interface.

In some embodiments, for example, a playback system includes a firstplayback device and a mobile device, the mobile device includescomputer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executableto perform a method including capturing user input selecting an alarmfunction, capturing user input selecting a time for playing an alarm onthe first playback device, capturing user input selecting a podcastchannel, updating the graphical user interface to reflect the selectedpodcast channel, capturing user input specifying what order to playpodcast episodes from the selected podcast channel, and startingplayback of a first podcast episode on the first playback deviceaccording to the specified order to play podcast episodes by theprevious user input and the selected time for playing an alarm.

Podcasts are a popular way to consume audio content. Similar to regularmusic tracks, podcasts are typically audio recordings with certainmetadata, such as a time and/or date stamp, where the time and/or datehave significance as indicative of when the recording was made. The timeand/or date gives a frame of reference for recent each recording is andhow they can be put in order. Each podcast recording can be referred toas an episode. Additional metadata can include a summary of the episode.Users who listen to a podcast can subscribe to that podcast.Subscription typically involves being notified of new episodes and/orhaving a podcast or media player application automatically add a newepisode to a playlist or download it. While the source of a series ofpodcast episodes may be referred to simply as a podcast, it can also becalled a podcast station or podcast channel depending on how it ispresented to a user. A listener may use a podcast service and/or listento a particular podcast channel on different playback devices, includingmobile devices. In some embodiments, a podcast service is an aggregatoror front-end service that provides access to multiple podcast channels,where a podcast channel is from a source or publisher of that podcast.Typically, when using the same user account, playback status(listened-to or not listened-to) and/or playback location (how far theuser has listened) of podcast episodes are synchronized across playbackdevices for a user account. This way, a listener may pick up where theyleft off. In many embodiments of the invention, a media playerapplication on a mobile device provides a graphical user interface forpodcast playback that has elements that are similar to playing backmusic tracks and also has elements that provide for features that arespecific to podcasts.

While some examples described herein may refer to functions performed bygiven actors such as “users,” “listeners,” and/or other entities, itshould be understood that this is for purposes of explanation only. Theclaims should not be interpreted to require action by any such exampleactor unless explicitly required by the language of the claimsthemselves.

In the Figures, identical reference numbers identify generally similar,and/or identical, elements. To facilitate the discussion of anyparticular element, the most significant digit or digits of a referencenumber refers to the Figure in which that element is first introduced.For example, element 110 a is first introduced and discussed withreference to FIG. 1A. Many of the details, dimensions, angles and otherfeatures shown in the Figures are merely illustrative of particularembodiments of the disclosed technology. Accordingly, other embodimentscan have other details, dimensions, angles and features withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. In addition, thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that further embodiments ofthe various disclosed technologies can be practiced without several ofthe details described below.

II. Suitable Operating Environment

FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of a media playback system 100distributed in an environment 101 (e.g., a house). The media playbacksystem 100 comprises one or more playback devices 110 (identifiedindividually as playback devices 110 a-n), one or more networkmicrophone devices 120 (“NMDs”) (identified individually as NMDs 120a-c), and one or more control devices 130 (identified individually ascontrol devices 130 a and 130 b).

As used herein the term “playback device” can generally refer to anetwork device configured to receive, process, and output data of amedia playback system. For example, a playback device can be a networkdevice that receives and processes audio content. In some embodiments, aplayback device includes one or more transducers or speakers powered byone or more amplifiers. In other embodiments, however, a playback deviceincludes one of (or neither of) the speaker and the amplifier. Forinstance, a playback device can comprise one or more amplifiersconfigured to drive one or more speakers external to the playback devicevia a corresponding wire or cable.

Moreover, as used herein the term “NMD” (i.e., a “network microphonedevice”) can generally refer to a network device that is configured foraudio detection. In some embodiments, an NMD is a stand-alone deviceconfigured primarily for audio detection. In other embodiments, an NMDis incorporated into a playback device (or vice versa).

The term “control device” can generally refer to a network deviceconfigured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access,control, and/or configuration of the media playback system 100.

Each of the playback devices 110 is configured to receive audio signalsor data from one or more media sources (e.g., one or more remoteservers, one or more local devices) and play back the received audiosignals or data as sound. The one or more NMDs 120 are configured toreceive spoken word commands, and the one or more control devices 130are configured to receive user input. In response to the received spokenword commands and/or user input, the media playback system 100 can playback audio via one or more of the playback devices 110. In certainembodiments, the playback devices 110 are configured to commenceplayback of media content in response to a trigger. For instance, one ormore of the playback devices 110 can be configured to play back amorning playlist upon detection of an associated trigger condition(e.g., presence of a user in a kitchen, detection of a coffee machineoperation). In some embodiments, for example, the media playback system100 is configured to play back audio from a first playback device (e.g.,the playback device 100 a) in synchrony with a second playback device(e.g., the playback device 100 b). Interactions between the playbackdevices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices 130 of the media playbacksystem 100 configured in accordance with the various embodiments of thedisclosure are described in greater detail below with respect to FIGS.1B-6.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1A, the environment 101 comprisesa household having several rooms, spaces, and/or playback zones,including (clockwise from upper left) a master bathroom 101 a, a masterbedroom 101 b, a second bedroom 101 c, a family room or den 101 d, anoffice 101 e, a living room 101 f, a dining room 101 g, a kitchen 101 h,and an outdoor patio 101 i. While certain embodiments and examples aredescribed below in the context of a home environment, the technologiesdescribed herein may be implemented in other types of environments. Insome embodiments, for example, the media playback system 100 can beimplemented in one or more commercial settings (e.g., a restaurant,mall, airport, hotel, a retail or other store), one or more vehicles(e.g., a sports utility vehicle, bus, car, a ship, a boat, an airplane),multiple environments (e.g., a combination of home and vehicleenvironments), and/or another suitable environment where multi-zoneaudio may be desirable.

The media playback system 100 can comprise one or more playback zones,some of which may correspond to the rooms in the environment 101. Themedia playback system 100 can be established with one or more playbackzones, after which additional zones may be added, or removed, to form,for example, the configuration shown in FIG. 1A. Each zone may be givena name according to a different room or space such as the office 101 e,master bathroom 101 a, master bedroom 101 b, the second bedroom 101 c,kitchen 101 h, dining room 101 g, living room 101 f, and/or the balcony101 i. In some aspects, a single playback zone may include multiplerooms or spaces. In certain aspects, a single room or space may includemultiple playback zones.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1A, the master bathroom 101 a, thesecond bedroom 101 c, the office 101 e, the living room 101 f, thedining room 101 g, the kitchen 101 h, and the outdoor patio 101 i eachinclude one playback device 110, and the master bedroom 101 b and theden 101 d include a plurality of playback devices 110. In the masterbedroom 101 b, the playback devices 110 l and 110 m may be configured,for example, to play back audio content in synchrony as individual onesof playback devices 110, as a bonded playback zone, as a consolidatedplayback device, and/or any combination thereof. Similarly, in the den101 d, the playback devices 110 h-j can be configured, for instance, toplay back audio content in synchrony as individual ones of playbackdevices 110, as one or more bonded playback devices, and/or as one ormore consolidated playback devices. Additional details regarding bondedand consolidated playback devices are described below with respect toFIGS. 1B and 1E and 1I-1M.

In some aspects, one or more of the playback zones in the environment101 may each be playing different audio content. For instance, a usermay be grilling on the patio 101 i and listening to hip hop music beingplayed by the playback device 110 c while another user is preparing foodin the kitchen 101 h and listening to classical music played by theplayback device 110 b. In another example, a playback zone may play thesame audio content in synchrony with another playback zone. Forinstance, the user may be in the office 101 e listening to the playbackdevice 110 f playing back the same hip hop music being played back byplayback device 110 c on the patio 101 i. In some aspects, the playbackdevices 110 c and 110 f play back the hip hop music in synchrony suchthat the user perceives that the audio content is being playedseamlessly (or at least substantially seamlessly) while moving betweendifferent playback zones. Additional details regarding audio playbacksynchronization among playback devices and/or zones can be found, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395 entitled, “System and method forsynchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clockeddigital data processing devices,” which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

a. Suitable Media Playback System

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the media playback system 100 and atleast one cloud network 102. For ease of illustration, certain devicesof the media playback system 100 and the cloud network 102 are omittedfrom FIG. 1B. One or more communication links 103 (referred tohereinafter as “the links 103”) communicatively couple the mediaplayback system 100 and the cloud network 102.

The links 103 can comprise, for example, one or more wired networks, oneor more wireless networks, one or more wide area networks (WAN), one ormore local area networks (LAN), one or more personal area networks(PAN), one or more telecommunication networks (e.g., one or more GlobalSystem for Mobiles (GSM) networks, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G communication networknetworks, and/or other suitable data transmission protocol networks),etc. In many embodiments, a cloud network 102 is configured to delivermedia content (e.g., audio content, video content, photographs, socialmedia content) to the media playback system 100 in response to a requesttransmitted from the media playback system 100 via the links 103. Insome embodiments, a cloud network 102 is configured to receive data(e.g., voice input data) from the media playback system 100 andcorrespondingly transmit commands and/or media content to the mediaplayback system 100.

The cloud network 102 comprises computing devices 106 (identifiedseparately as a first computing device 106 a, a second computing device106 b, and a third computing device 106 c). The computing devices 106can comprise individual computers or servers, such as, for example, amedia streaming service server storing audio and/or other media content,a voice service server, a social media server, a media playback systemcontrol server, etc. In some embodiments, one or more of the computingdevices 106 comprise modules of a single computer or server. In certainembodiments, one or more of the computing devices 106 comprise one ormore modules, computers, and/or servers. Moreover, while the cloudnetwork 102 is described above in the context of a single cloud network,in some embodiments the cloud network 102 comprises a plurality of cloudnetworks comprising communicatively coupled computing devices.Furthermore, while the cloud network 102 is shown in FIG. 1B as havingthree of the computing devices 106, in some embodiments, the cloudnetwork 102 comprises fewer (or more than) three computing devices 106.

The media playback system 100 is configured to receive media contentfrom the networks 102 via the links 103. The received media content cancomprise, for example, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and/or aUniform Resource Locator (URL). For instance, in some examples, themedia playback system 100 can stream, download, or otherwise obtain datafrom a URI or a URL corresponding to the received media content. Anetwork 104 communicatively couples the links 103 and at least a portionof the devices (e.g., one or more of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120,and/or control devices 130) of the media playback system 100. Thenetwork 104 can include, for example, a wireless network (e.g., a WiFinetwork, a Bluetooth, a Z-Wave network, a ZigBee, and/or other suitablewireless communication protocol network) and/or a wired network (e.g., anetwork comprising Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or anothersuitable wired communication). As those of ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate, as used herein, “WiFi” can refer to several differentcommunication protocols including, for example, Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.11ac, 802.11ad, 802.11af, 802.11ah, 802.11ai, 802.11aj,802.11aq, 802.11ax, 802.11ay, 802.15, etc. transmitted at 2.4 Gigahertz(GHz), 5 GHz, and/or another suitable frequency.

In some embodiments, the network 104 comprises a dedicated communicationnetwork that the media playback system 100 uses to transmit messagesbetween individual devices and/or to transmit media content to and frommedia content sources (e.g., one or more of the computing devices 106).In certain embodiments, the network 104 is configured to be accessibleonly to devices in the media playback system 100, thereby reducinginterference and competition with other household devices. In otherembodiments, however, the network 104 comprises an existing householdcommunication network (e.g., a household WiFi network). In someembodiments, the links 103 and the network 104 comprise one or more ofthe same networks. In some aspects, for example, the links 103 and thenetwork 104 comprise a telecommunication network (e.g., an LTE network,a 5G network). Moreover, in some embodiments, the media playback system100 is implemented without the network 104, and devices comprising themedia playback system 100 can communicate with each other, for example,via one or more direct connections, PANs, telecommunication networks,and/or other suitable communication links. The network 104 may bereferred to herein as a “local communication network” to differentiatethe network 104 from the cloud network 102 that couples the mediaplayback system 100 to remote devices, such as cloud services.

In some embodiments, audio content sources may be regularly added orremoved from the media playback system 100. In some embodiments, forexample, the media playback system 100 performs an indexing of mediaitems when one or more media content sources are updated, added to,and/or removed from the media playback system 100. The media playbacksystem 100 can scan identifiable media items in some or all foldersand/or directories accessible to the playback devices 110, and generateor update a media content database comprising metadata (e.g., title,artist, album, track length) and other associated information (e.g.,URIs, URLs) for each identifiable media item found. In some embodiments,for example, the media content database is stored on one or more of theplayback devices 110, network microphone devices 120, and/or controldevices 130.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1B, the playback devices 110 l and110 m comprise a group 107 a. The playback devices 110 l and 110 m canbe positioned in different rooms in a household and be grouped togetherin the group 107 a on a temporary or permanent basis based on user inputreceived at the control device 130 a and/or another control device 130in the media playback system 100. When arranged in the group 107 a, theplayback devices 110 l and 110 m can be configured to play back the sameor similar audio content in synchrony from one or more audio contentsources. In certain embodiments, for example, the group 107 a comprisesa bonded zone in which the playback devices 110 l and 110 m compriseleft audio and right audio channels, respectively, of multi-channelaudio content, thereby producing or enhancing a stereo effect of theaudio content. In some embodiments, the group 107 a includes additionalplayback devices 110. In other embodiments, however, the media playbacksystem 100 omits the group 107 a and/or other grouped arrangements ofthe playback devices 110. Additional details regarding groups and otherarrangements of playback devices are described in further detail belowwith respect to FIGS. 1-I through 1M.

The media playback system 100 includes the NMDs 120 a and 120 d, eachcomprising one or more microphones configured to receive voiceutterances from a user. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1B, theNMD 120 a is a standalone device and the NMD 120 d is integrated intothe playback device 110 n. The NMD 120 a, for example, is configured toreceive voice input 121 from a user 123. In some embodiments, the NMD120 a transmits data associated with the received voice input 121 to avoice assistant service (VAS) configured to (i) process the receivedvoice input data and (ii) facilitate one or more operations on behalf ofthe media playback system 100.

In some aspects, for example, the computing device 106 c comprises oneor more modules and/or servers of a VAS (e.g., a VAS operated by one ormore of SONOS®, AMAZON®, GOOGLE® APPLE®, MICROSOFT®). The computingdevice 106 c can receive the voice input data from the NMD 120 a via thenetwork 104 and the links 103.

In response to receiving the voice input data, the computing device 106c processes the voice input data (i.e., “Play Hey Jude by The Beatles”),and determines that the processed voice input includes a command to playa song (e.g., “Hey Jude”). In some embodiments, after processing thevoice input, the computing device 106 c accordingly transmits commandsto the media playback system 100 to play back “Hey Jude” by the Beatlesfrom a suitable media service (e.g., via one or more of the computingdevices 106) on one or more of the playback devices 110. In otherembodiments, the computing device 106 c may be configured to interfacewith media services on behalf of the media playback system 100. In suchembodiments, after processing the voice input, instead of the computingdevice 106 c transmitting commands to the media playback system 100causing the media playback system 100 to retrieve the requested mediafrom a suitable media service, the computing device 106 c itself causesa suitable media service to provide the requested media to the mediaplayback system 100 in accordance with the user's voice utterance.

b. Suitable Playback Devices

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of the playback device 110 a comprising aninput/output 111. The input/output 111 can include an analog I/O 111 a(e.g., one or more wires, cables, and/or other suitable communicationlinks configured to carry analog signals) and/or a digital I/O 111 b(e.g., one or more wires, cables, or other suitable communication linksconfigured to carry digital signals). In some embodiments, the analogI/O 111 a is an audio line-in input connection comprising, for example,an auto-detecting 3.5 mm audio line-in connection. In some embodiments,the digital I/O 111 b comprises a Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format(S/PDIF) communication interface and/or cable and/or a Toshiba Link(TOSLINK) cable. In some embodiments, the digital I/O 111 b comprises anHigh-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interface and/or cable. Insome embodiments, the digital I/O 111 b includes one or more wirelesscommunication links comprising, for example, a radio frequency (RF),infrared, WiFi, Bluetooth, or another suitable communication protocol.In certain embodiments, the analog I/O 111 a and the digital I/O 111 bcomprise interfaces (e.g., ports, plugs, jacks) configured to receiveconnectors of cables transmitting analog and digital signals,respectively, without necessarily including cables.

The playback device 110 a, for example, can receive media content (e.g.,audio content comprising music and/or other sounds) from a local audiosource 105 via the input/output 111 (e.g., a cable, a wire, a PAN, aBluetooth connection, an ad hoc wired or wireless communication network,and/or another suitable communication link). The local audio source 105can comprise, for example, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, atablet, a laptop computer) or another suitable audio component (e.g., atelevision, a desktop computer, an amplifier, a phonograph, a Blu-rayplayer, a memory storing digital media files). In some aspects, thelocal audio source 105 includes local music libraries on a smartphone, acomputer, a networked-attached storage (NAS), and/or another suitabledevice configured to store media files. In certain embodiments, one ormore of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices 130comprise the local audio source 105. In other embodiments, however, themedia playback system omits the local audio source 105 altogether. Insome embodiments, the playback device 110 a does not include aninput/output 111 and receives all audio content via the network 104.

The playback device 110 a further comprises electronics 112, a userinterface 113 (e.g., one or more buttons, knobs, dials, touch-sensitivesurfaces, displays, touchscreens), and one or more transducers 114(referred to hereinafter as “the transducers 114”). The electronics 112are configured to receive audio from an audio source (e.g., the localaudio source 105) via the input/output 111 or one or more of thecomputing devices 106 a-c via the network 104 (FIG. 1B)), amplify thereceived audio, and output the amplified audio for playback via one ormore of the transducers 114. In some embodiments, the playback device110 a optionally includes one or more microphones 115 (e.g., a singlemicrophone, a plurality of microphones, a microphone array) (hereinafterreferred to as “the microphones 115”). In certain embodiments, forexample, the playback device 110 a having one or more of the optionalmicrophones 115 can operate as an NMD configured to receive voice inputfrom a user and correspondingly perform one or more operations based onthe received voice input.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1C, the electronics 112 compriseone or more processors 112 a (referred to hereinafter as “the processors112 a”), memory 112 b, software components 112 c, a network interface112 d, one or more audio processing components 112 g (referred tohereinafter as “the audio components 112 g”), one or more audioamplifiers 112 h (referred to hereinafter as “the amplifiers 112 h”),and power 112 i (e.g., one or more power supplies, power cables, powerreceptacles, batteries, induction coils, Power-over Ethernet (POE)interfaces, and/or other suitable sources of electric power). In someembodiments, the electronics 112 optionally include one or more othercomponents 112 j (e.g., one or more sensors, video displays,touchscreens, battery charging bases).

The processors 112 a can comprise clock-driven computing component(s)configured to process data, and the memory 112 b can comprise acomputer-readable medium (e.g., a tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium loaded with one or more of the softwarecomponents 112 c) configured to store instructions for performingvarious operations and/or functions. The processors 112 a are configuredto execute the instructions stored on the memory 112 b to perform one ormore of the operations. The operations can include, for example, causingthe playback device 110 a to retrieve audio data from an audio source(e.g., one or more of the computing devices 106 a-c (FIG. 1B)), and/oranother one of the playback devices 110. In some embodiments, theoperations further include causing the playback device 110 a to sendaudio data to another one of the playback devices 110 a and/or anotherdevice (e.g., one of the NMDs 120). Certain embodiments includeoperations causing the playback device 110 a to pair with another of theone or more playback devices 110 to enable a multi-channel audioenvironment (e.g., a stereo pair, a bonded zone).

The processors 112 a can be further configured to perform operationscausing the playback device 110 a to synchronize playback of audiocontent with another of the one or more playback devices 110. As thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, during synchronousplayback of audio content on a plurality of playback devices, a listenerwill preferably be unable to perceive time-delay differences betweenplayback of the audio content by the playback device 110 a and the otherone or more other playback devices 110. Additional details regardingaudio playback synchronization among playback devices can be found, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395, which was incorporated by referenceabove.

In some embodiments, the memory 112 b is further configured to storedata associated with the playback device 110 a, such as one or morezones and/or zone groups of which the playback device 110 a is a member,audio sources accessible to the playback device 110 a, and/or a playbackqueue that the playback device 110 a (and/or another of the one or moreplayback devices) can be associated with. The stored data can compriseone or more state variables that are periodically updated and used todescribe a state of the playback device 110 a. The memory 112 b can alsoinclude data associated with a state of one or more of the other devices(e.g., the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, control devices 130) of themedia playback system 100. In some aspects, for example, the state datais shared during predetermined intervals of time (e.g., every 5 seconds,every 10 seconds, every 60 seconds) among at least a portion of thedevices of the media playback system 100, so that one or more of thedevices have the most recent data associated with the media playbacksystem 100.

The network interface 112 d is configured to facilitate a transmissionof data between the playback device 110 a and one or more other deviceson a data network such as, for example, the links 103 and/or the network104 (FIG. 1B). The network interface 112 d is configured to transmit andreceive data corresponding to media content (e.g., audio content, videocontent, text, photographs) and other signals (e.g., non-transitorysignals) comprising digital packet data including an Internet Protocol(IP)-based source address and/or an IP-based destination address. Thenetwork interface 112 d can parse the digital packet data such that theelectronics 112 properly receives and processes the data destined forthe playback device 110 a.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1C, the network interface 112 dcomprises one or more wireless interfaces 112 e (referred to hereinafteras “the wireless interface 112 e”). The wireless interface 112 e (e.g.,a suitable interface comprising one or more antennae) can be configuredto wirelessly communicate with one or more other devices (e.g., one ormore of the other playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices130) that are communicatively coupled to the network 104 (FIG. 1B) inaccordance with a suitable wireless communication protocol (e.g., WiFi,Bluetooth, LTE). In some embodiments, the network interface 112 doptionally includes a wired interface 112 f (e.g., an interface orreceptacle configured to receive a network cable such as an Ethernet, aUSB-A, USB-C, and/or Thunderbolt cable) configured to communicate over awired connection with other devices in accordance with a suitable wiredcommunication protocol. In certain embodiments, the network interface112 d includes the wired interface 112 f and excludes the wirelessinterface 112 e. In some embodiments, the electronics 112 excludes thenetwork interface 112 d altogether and transmits and receives mediacontent and/or other data via another communication path (e.g., theinput/output 111).

The audio components 112 g are configured to process and/or filter datacomprising media content received by the electronics 112 (e.g., via theinput/output 111 and/or the network interface 112 d) to produce outputaudio signals. In some embodiments, the audio processing components 112g comprise, for example, one or more digital-to-analog converters (DAC),audio preprocessing components, audio enhancement components, a digitalsignal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitable audio processingcomponents, modules, circuits, etc. In certain embodiments, one or moreof the audio processing components 112 g can comprise one or moresubcomponents of the processors 112 a. In some embodiments, theelectronics 112 omits the audio processing components 112 g. In someaspects, for example, the processors 112 a execute instructions storedon the memory 112 b to perform audio processing operations to producethe output audio signals.

The amplifiers 112 h are configured to receive and amplify the audiooutput signals produced by the audio processing components 112 g and/orthe processors 112 a. The amplifiers 112 h can comprise electronicdevices and/or components configured to amplify audio signals to levelssufficient for driving one or more of the transducers 114. In someembodiments, for example, the amplifiers 112 h include one or moreswitching or class-D power amplifiers. In other embodiments, however,the amplifiers include one or more other types of power amplifiers(e.g., linear gain power amplifiers, class-A amplifiers, class-Bamplifiers, class-AB amplifiers, class-C amplifiers, class-D amplifiers,class-E amplifiers, class-F amplifiers, class-G and/or class Hamplifiers, and/or another suitable type of power amplifier). In certainembodiments, the amplifiers 112 h comprise a suitable combination of twoor more of the foregoing types of power amplifiers. Moreover, in someembodiments, individual ones of the amplifiers 112 h correspond toindividual ones of the transducers 114. In other embodiments, however,the electronics 112 includes a single one of the amplifiers 112 hconfigured to output amplified audio signals to a plurality of thetransducers 114. In some other embodiments, the electronics 112 omitsthe amplifiers 112 h.

The transducers 114 (e.g., one or more speakers and/or speaker drivers)receive the amplified audio signals from the amplifier 112 h and renderor output the amplified audio signals as sound (e.g., audible soundwaves having a frequency between about 20 Hertz (Hz) and 20 kilohertz(kHz)). In some embodiments, the transducers 114 can comprise a singletransducer. In other embodiments, however, the transducers 114 comprisea plurality of audio transducers. In some embodiments, the transducers114 comprise more than one type of transducer. For example, thetransducers 114 can include one or more low frequency transducers (e.g.,subwoofers, woofers), mid-range frequency transducers (e.g., mid-rangetransducers, mid-woofers), and one or more high frequency transducers(e.g., one or more tweeters). As used herein, “low frequency” cangenerally refer to audible frequencies below about 500 Hz, “mid-rangefrequency” can generally refer to audible frequencies between about 500Hz and about 2 kHz, and “high frequency” can generally refer to audiblefrequencies above 2 kHz. In certain embodiments, however, one or more ofthe transducers 114 comprise transducers that do not adhere to theforegoing frequency ranges. For example, one of the transducers 114 maycomprise a mid-woofer transducer configured to output sound atfrequencies between about 200 Hz and about 5 kHz.

By way of illustration, SONOS, Inc. presently offers (or has offered)for sale certain playback devices including, for example, a “SONOS ONE,”“PLAY:1,” “PLAY:3,” “PLAY:5,” “PLAYBAR,” “PLAYBASE,” “CONNECT:AMP,”“CONNECT,” and “SUB.” Other suitable playback devices may additionallyor alternatively be used to implement the playback devices of exampleembodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, one of ordinary skilled inthe art will appreciate that a playback device is not limited to theexamples described herein or to SONOS product offerings. In someembodiments, for example, one or more playback devices 110 compriseswired or wireless headphones (e.g., over-the-ear headphones, on-earheadphones, in-ear earphones). In other embodiments, one or more of theplayback devices 110 comprise a docking station and/or an interfaceconfigured to interact with a docking station for personal mobile mediaplayback devices. In certain embodiments, a playback device may beintegral to another device or component such as a television, a lightingfixture, or some other device for indoor or outdoor use. In someembodiments, a playback device omits a user interface and/or one or moretransducers. For example, FIG. 1D is a block diagram of a playbackdevice 110 p comprising the input/output 111 and electronics 112 withoutthe user interface 113 or transducers 114.

FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a bonded playback device 110 q comprisingthe playback device 110 a (FIG. 1C) sonically bonded with the playbackdevice 110 i (e.g., a subwoofer) (FIG. 1A). In the illustratedembodiment, the playback devices 110 a and 110 i are separate ones ofthe playback devices 110 housed in separate enclosures. In someembodiments, however, the bonded playback device 110 q comprises asingle enclosure housing both the playback devices 110 a and 110 i. Thebonded playback device 110 q can be configured to process and reproducesound differently than an unbonded playback device (e.g., the playbackdevice 110 a of FIG. 1C) and/or paired or bonded playback devices (e.g.,the playback devices 110 l and 110 m of FIG. 1B). In some embodiments,for example, the playback device 110 a is full-range playback deviceconfigured to render low frequency, mid-range frequency, and highfrequency audio content, and the playback device 110 i is a subwooferconfigured to render low frequency audio content. In some aspects, theplayback device 110 a, when bonded with the first playback device, isconfigured to render only the mid-range and high frequency components ofa particular audio content, while the playback device 110 i renders thelow frequency component of the particular audio content. In someembodiments, the bonded playback device 110 q includes additionalplayback devices and/or another bonded playback device. Additionalplayback device embodiments are described in further detail below withrespect to FIGS. 2A-3D.

c. Suitable Network Microphone Devices (NMDs)

FIG. 1F is a block diagram of the NMD 120 a (FIGS. 1A and 1B). The NMD120 a includes one or more voice processing components 124 (hereinafter“the voice components 124”) and several components described withrespect to the playback device 110 a (FIG. 1C) including the processors112 a, the memory 112 b, and the microphones 115. The NMD 120 aoptionally comprises other components also included in the playbackdevice 110 a (FIG. 1C), such as the user interface 113 and/or thetransducers 114. In some embodiments, the NMD 120 a is configured as amedia playback device (e.g., one or more of the playback devices 110),and further includes, for example, one or more of the audio components112 g (FIG. 1C), the amplifiers 114, and/or other playback devicecomponents. In certain embodiments, the NMD 120 a comprises an Internetof Things (IoT) device such as, for example, a thermostat, alarm panel,fire and/or smoke detector, etc. In some embodiments, the NMD 120 acomprises the microphones 115, the voice processing 124, and only aportion of the components of the electronics 112 described above withrespect to FIG. 1B. In some aspects, for example, the NMD 120 a includesthe processor 112 a and the memory 112 b (FIG. 1B), while omitting oneor more other components of the electronics 112. In some embodiments,the NMD 120 a includes additional components (e.g., one or more sensors,cameras, thermometers, barometers, hygrometers).

In some embodiments, an NMD can be integrated into a playback device.FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a playback device 110 r comprising an NMD120 d. The playback device 110 r can comprise many or all of thecomponents of the playback device 110 a and further include themicrophones 115 and voice processing 124 (FIG. 1F). The playback device110 r optionally includes an integrated control device 130 c. Thecontrol device 130 c can comprise, for example, a user interface (e.g.,the user interface 113 of FIG. 1B) configured to receive user input(e.g., touch input, voice input) without a separate control device. Inother embodiments, however, the playback device 110 r receives commandsfrom another control device (e.g., the control device 130 a of FIG. 1B).Additional NMD embodiments are described in further detail below withrespect to FIGS. 3A-3F.

Referring again to FIG. 1F, the microphones 115 are configured toacquire, capture, and/or receive sound from an environment (e.g., theenvironment 101 of FIG. 1A) and/or a room in which the NMD 120 a ispositioned. The received sound can include, for example, vocalutterances, audio played back by the NMD 120 a and/or another playbackdevice, background voices, ambient sounds, etc. The microphones 115convert the received sound into electrical signals to produce microphonedata. The voice processing 124 receives and analyzes the microphone datato determine whether a voice input is present in the microphone data.The voice input can comprise, for example, an activation word followedby an utterance including a user request. As those of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate, an activation word is a word or other audio cuesignifying a user voice input. For instance, in querying the AMAZON®VAS, a user might speak the activation word “Alexa.” Other examplesinclude “Ok, Google” for invoking the GOOGLE® VAS and “Hey, Siri” forinvoking the APPLE® VAS.

After detecting the activation word, voice processing 124 monitors themicrophone data for an accompanying user request in the voice input. Theuser request may include, for example, a command to control athird-party device, such as a thermostat (e.g., NEST® thermostat), anillumination device (e.g., a PHILIPS HUE® lighting device), or a mediaplayback device (e.g., a Sonos® playback device). For example, a usermight speak the activation word “Alexa” followed by the utterance “setthe thermostat to 68 degrees” to set a temperature in a home (e.g., theenvironment 101 of FIG. 1A). The user might speak the same activationword followed by the utterance “turn on the living room” to turn onillumination devices in a living room area of the home. The user maysimilarly speak an activation word followed by a request to play aparticular song, an album, or a playlist of music on a playback devicein the home. Additional description regarding receiving and processingvoice input data can be found in further detail below with respect toFIGS. 3A-3F.

d. Suitable Control Devices

FIG. 1H is a partial schematic diagram of the control device 130 a(FIGS. 1A and 1B). As used herein, the term “control device” can be usedinterchangeably with “controller” or “control system.” Among otherfeatures, the control device 130 a is configured to receive user inputrelated to the media playback system 100 and, in response, cause one ormore devices in the media playback system 100 to perform an action(s) oroperation(s) corresponding to the user input. In the illustratedembodiment, the control device 130 a comprises a smartphone (e.g., aniPhone™, an Android phone) on which media playback system controllerapplication software is installed. In some embodiments, the controldevice 130 a comprises, for example, a tablet (e.g., an iPad™) acomputer (e.g., a laptop computer, a desktop computer), and/or anothersuitable device (e.g., a television, an automobile audio head unit, anIoT device). In certain embodiments, the control device 130 a comprisesa dedicated controller for the media playback system 100. In otherembodiments, as described above with respect to FIG. 1G, the controldevice 130 a is integrated into another device in the media playbacksystem 100 (e.g., one more of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/orother suitable devices configured to communicate over a network).

The control device 130 a includes electronics 132, a user interface 133,one or more speakers 134, and one or more microphones 135. Theelectronics 132 comprise one or more processors 132 a (referred tohereinafter as “the processors 132 a”), a memory 132 b, softwarecomponents 132 c, and a network interface 132 d. The processor 132 a canbe configured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access,control, and configuration of the media playback system 100. The memory132 b can comprise data storage that can be loaded with one or more ofthe software components executable by the processor 302 to perform thosefunctions. The software components 132 c can comprise applicationsand/or other executable software configured to facilitate control of themedia playback system 100. The memory 112 b can be configured to store,for example, the software components 132 c, media playback systemcontroller application software, and/or other data associated with themedia playback system 100 and the user.

The network interface 132 d is configured to facilitate networkcommunications between the control device 130 a and one or more otherdevices in the media playback system 100, and/or one or more remotedevices. In some embodiments, the network interface 132 d is configuredto operate according to one or more suitable communication industrystandards (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3,wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.15, 4G, LTE). The network interface 132 d can beconfigured, for example, to transmit data to and/or receive data fromthe playback devices 110, the NMDs 120, other ones of the controldevices 130, one of the computing devices 106 of FIG. 1B, devicescomprising one or more other media playback systems, etc. Thetransmitted and/or received data can include, for example, playbackdevice control commands, state variables, playback zone and/or zonegroup configurations. For instance, based on user input received at theuser interface 133, the network interface 132 d can transmit a playbackdevice control command (e.g., volume control, audio playback control,audio content selection) from the control device 304 to one or more ofthe playback devices 100. The network interface 132 d can also transmitand/or receive configuration changes such as, for example,adding/removing one or more playback devices 100 to/from a zone,adding/removing one or more zones to/from a zone group, forming a bondedor consolidated player, separating one or more playback devices from abonded or consolidated player, among others. Additional description ofzones and groups can be found below with respect to FIGS. 1-I through1M.

The user interface 133 is configured to receive user input and canfacilitate control of the media playback system 100. The user interface133 includes media content art 133 a (e.g., album art, lyrics, videos),a playback status indicator 133 b (e.g., an elapsed and/or remainingtime indicator), media content information region 133 c, a playbackcontrol region 133 d, and a zone indicator 133 e. The media contentinformation region 133 c can include a display of relevant information(e.g., title, artist, album, genre, release year) about media contentcurrently playing and/or media content in a queue or playlist. Theplayback control region 133 d can include selectable (e.g., via touchinput and/or via a cursor or another suitable selector) icons to causeone or more playback devices in a selected playback zone or zone groupto perform playback actions such as, for example, play or pause, fastforward, rewind, skip to next, skip to previous, enter/exit shufflemode, enter/exit repeat mode, enter/exit cross fade mode, etc. Theplayback control region 133 d may also include selectable icons tomodify equalization settings, playback volume, and/or other suitableplayback actions. In the illustrated embodiment, the user interface 133comprises a display presented on a touch screen interface of asmartphone (e.g., an iPhone™, an Android phone). In some embodiments,however, user interfaces of varying formats, styles, and interactivesequences may alternatively be implemented on one or more networkdevices to provide comparable control access to a media playback system.

The one or more speakers 134 (e.g., one or more transducers) can beconfigured to output sound to the user of the control device 130 a. Insome embodiments, the one or more speakers comprise individualtransducers configured to correspondingly output low frequencies,mid-range frequencies, and/or high frequencies. In some aspects, forexample, the control device 130 a is configured as a playback device(e.g., one of the playback devices 110). Similarly, in some embodimentsthe control device 130 a is configured as an NMD (e.g., one of the NMDs120), receiving voice commands and other sounds via the one or moremicrophones 135.

The one or more microphones 135 can comprise, for example, one or morecondenser microphones, electret condenser microphones, dynamicmicrophones, and/or other suitable types of microphones or transducers.In some embodiments, two or more of the microphones 135 are arranged tocapture location information of an audio source (e.g., voice, audiblesound) and/or configured to facilitate filtering of background noise.Moreover, in certain embodiments, the control device 130 a is configuredto operate as playback device and an NMD. In other embodiments, however,the control device 130 a omits the one or more speakers 134 and/or theone or more microphones 135. For instance, the control device 130 a maycomprise a device (e.g., a thermostat, an IoT device, a network device)comprising a portion of the electronics 132 and the user interface 133(e.g., a touch screen) without any speakers or microphones. Additionalcontrol device embodiments are described in further detail below withrespect to FIGS. 4A-4D and 5.

e. Suitable Playback Device Configurations

FIGS. 1-1 through 1M show example configurations of playback devices inzones and zone groups. Referring first to FIG. 1M, in one example, asingle playback device may belong to a zone. For example, the playbackdevice 110 g in the second bedroom 101 c (FIG. 1A) may belong to Zone C.In some implementations described below, multiple playback devices maybe “bonded” to form a “bonded pair” which together form a single zone.For example, the playback device 110 l (e.g., a left playback device)can be bonded to the playback device 110 l (e.g., a left playbackdevice) to form Zone A. Bonded playback devices may have differentplayback responsibilities (e.g., channel responsibilities). In anotherimplementation described below, multiple playback devices may be mergedto form a single zone. For example, the playback device 110 h (e.g., afront playback device) may be merged with the playback device 110 i(e.g., a subwoofer), and the playback devices 110 j and 110 k (e.g.,left and right surround speakers, respectively) to form a single Zone D.In another example, the playback devices 110 g and 110 h can be mergedto form a merged group or a zone group 108 b. The merged playbackdevices 110 g and 110 h may not be specifically assigned differentplayback responsibilities. That is, the merged playback devices 110 hand 110 i may, aside from playing audio content in synchrony, each playaudio content as they would if they were not merged.

Each zone in the media playback system 100 may be provided for controlas a single user interface (UI) entity. For example, Zone A may beprovided as a single entity named Master Bathroom. Zone B may beprovided as a single entity named Master Bedroom. Zone C may be providedas a single entity named Second Bedroom.

Playback devices that are bonded may have different playbackresponsibilities, such as responsibilities for certain audio channels.For example, as shown in FIG. 1-I, the playback devices 110 l and 110 mmay be bonded so as to produce or enhance a stereo effect of audiocontent. In this example, the playback device 110 l may be configured toplay a left channel audio component, while the playback device 110 k maybe configured to play a right channel audio component. In someimplementations, such stereo bonding may be referred to as “pairing.”

Additionally, bonded playback devices may have additional and/ordifferent respective speaker drivers. As shown in FIG. 1J, the playbackdevice 110 h named Front may be bonded with the playback device 110 inamed SUB. The Front device 110 h can be configured to render a range ofmid to high frequencies and the SUB device 110 i can be configuredrender low frequencies. When unbonded, however, the Front device 110 hcan be configured render a full range of frequencies. As anotherexample, FIG. 1K shows the Front and SUB devices 110 h and 110 i furtherbonded with Left and Right playback devices 110 j and 110 k,respectively. In some implementations, the Right and Left devices 110 jand 102 k can be configured to form surround or “satellite” channels ofa home theater system. The bonded playback devices 110 h, 110 i, 110 j,and 110 k may form a single Zone D (FIG. 1M).

Playback devices that are merged may not have assigned playbackresponsibilities, and may each render the full range of audio contentthe respective playback device is capable of. Nevertheless, mergeddevices may be represented as a single UI entity (i.e., a zone, asdiscussed above). For instance, the playback devices 110 a and 110 n themaster bathroom have the single UI entity of Zone A. In one embodiment,the playback devices 110 a and 110 n may each output the full range ofaudio content each respective playback devices 110 a and 110 n arecapable of, in synchrony.

In some embodiments, an NMD is bonded or merged with another device soas to form a zone. For example, the NMD 120 b may be bonded with theplayback device 110 e, which together form Zone F, named Living Room. Inother embodiments, a stand-alone network microphone device may be in azone by itself. In other embodiments, however, a stand-alone networkmicrophone device may not be associated with a zone. Additional detailsregarding associating network microphone devices and playback devices asdesignated or default devices may be found, for example, in U.S. PatentPublication No. 2017/0242653 titled “Voice Control of a Media PlaybackSystem,” the relevant disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Zones of individual, bonded, and/or merged devices may be grouped toform a zone group. For example, referring to FIG. 1M, Zone A may begrouped with Zone B to form a zone group 108 a that includes the twozones. Similarly, Zone G may be grouped with Zone H to form the zonegroup 108 b. As another example, Zone A may be grouped with one or moreother Zones C-I. The Zones A-I may be grouped and ungrouped in numerousways. For example, three, four, five, or more (e.g., all) of the ZonesA-I may be grouped. When grouped, the zones of individual and/or bondedplayback devices may play back audio in synchrony with one another, asdescribed in previously referenced U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395. Playbackdevices may be dynamically grouped and ungrouped to form new ordifferent groups that synchronously play back audio content.

In various implementations, the zones in an environment may be thedefault name of a zone within the group or a combination of the names ofthe zones within a zone group. For example, Zone Group 108 b can have beassigned a name such as “Dining+Kitchen”, as shown in FIG. 1M. In someembodiments, a zone group may be given a unique name selected by a user.

Certain data may be stored in a memory of a playback device (e.g., thememory 112 c of FIG. 1C) as one or more state variables that areperiodically updated and used to describe the state of a playback zone,the playback device(s), and/or a zone group associated therewith. Thememory may also include the data associated with the state of the otherdevices of the media system, and shared from time to time among thedevices so that one or more of the devices have the most recent dataassociated with the system.

In some embodiments, the memory may store instances of various variabletypes associated with the states. Variables instances may be stored withidentifiers (e.g., tags) corresponding to type. For example, certainidentifiers may be a first type “al” to identify playback device(s) of azone, a second type “b1” to identify playback device(s) that may bebonded in the zone, and a third type “c1” to identify a zone group towhich the zone may belong. As a related example, identifiers associatedwith the second bedroom 101 c may indicate that the playback device isthe only playback device of the Zone C and not in a zone group.Identifiers associated with the Den may indicate that the Den is notgrouped with other zones but includes bonded playback devices 110 h-110k. Identifiers associated with the Dining Room may indicate that theDining Room is part of the Dining+Kitchen zone group 108 b and thatdevices 110 b and 110 d are grouped (FIG. 1L). Identifiers associatedwith the Kitchen may indicate the same or similar information by virtueof the Kitchen being part of the Dining+Kitchen zone group 108 b. Otherexample zone variables and identifiers are described below.

In yet another example, the media playback system 100 may storevariables or identifiers representing other associations of zones andzone groups, such as identifiers associated with Areas, as shown in FIG.1M. An area may involve a cluster of zone groups and/or zones not withina zone group. For instance, FIG. 1M shows an Upper Area 109 a includingZones A-D, and a Lower Area 109 b including Zones E-I. In one aspect, anArea may be used to invoke a cluster of zone groups and/or zones thatshare one or more zones and/or zone groups of another cluster. Inanother aspect, this differs from a zone group, which does not share azone with another zone group. Further examples of techniques forimplementing Areas may be found, for example, in U.S. Patent PublicationNo. 2018/0107446 filed Aug. 21, 2017 and titled “Room Association Basedon Name,” and U.S. Pat. No. 8,483,853 filed Sep. 11, 2007, and titled“Controlling and manipulating groupings in a multi-zone media system.”One playback device in a group can be identified as a group coordinatorfor the group, such as described in U.S. Patent Publication No.2017/0192739 titled “Group Coordinator Selection.” The relevantdisclosure of each of these applications is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. In some embodiments, the media playbacksystem 100 may not implement Areas, in which case the system may notstore variables associated with Areas.

III. Example Systems and Devices

FIG. 2A is a front isometric view of a playback device 210 configured inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed technology. FIG. 2B is a frontisometric view of the playback device 210 without a grille 216 e. FIG.2C is an exploded view of the playback device 210. Referring to FIGS.2A-2C together, the playback device 210 comprises a housing 216 thatincludes an upper portion 216 a, a right or first side portion 216 b, alower portion 216 c, a left or second side portion 216 d, the grille 216e, and a rear portion 216 f. A plurality of fasteners 216 g (e.g., oneor more screws, rivets, clips) attaches a frame 216 h to the housing216. A cavity 216 j (FIG. 2C) in the housing 216 is configured toreceive the frame 216 h and electronics 212. The frame 216 h isconfigured to carry a plurality of transducers 214 (identifiedindividually in FIG. 2B as transducers 214 a-f). The electronics 212(e.g., the electronics 112 of FIG. 1C) is configured to receive audiocontent from an audio source and send electrical signals correspondingto the audio content to the transducers 214 for playback.

The transducers 214 are configured to receive the electrical signalsfrom the electronics 112, and further configured to convert the receivedelectrical signals into audible sound during playback. For instance, thetransducers 214 a-c (e.g., tweeters) can be configured to output highfrequency sound (e.g., sound waves having a frequency greater than about2 kHz). The transducers 214 d-f (e.g., mid-woofers, woofers, midrangespeakers) can be configured output sound at frequencies lower than thetransducers 214 a-c (e.g., sound waves having a frequency lower thanabout 2 kHz). In some embodiments, the playback device 210 includes anumber of transducers different than those illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C.For example, as described in further detail below with respect to FIGS.3A-3C, the playback device 210 can include fewer than six transducers(e.g., one, two, three). In other embodiments, however, the playbackdevice 210 includes more than six transducers (e.g., nine, ten).Moreover, in some embodiments, all or a portion of the transducers 214are configured to operate as a phased array to desirably adjust (e.g.,narrow or widen) a radiation pattern of the transducers 214, therebyaltering a user's perception of the sound emitted from the playbackdevice 210.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 2A-2C, a filter 216 i is axiallyaligned with the transducer 214 b. The filter 216 i can be configured todesirably attenuate a predetermined range of frequencies that thetransducer 214 b outputs to improve sound quality and a perceived soundstage output collectively by the transducers 214. In some embodiments,however, the playback device 210 omits the filter 216 i. In otherembodiments, the playback device 210 includes one or more additionalfilters aligned with the transducers 214 b and/or at least another ofthe transducers 214.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are front and right isometric side views, respectively,of an NMD 320 configured in accordance with embodiments of the disclosedtechnology. FIG. 3C is an exploded view of the NMD 320. FIG. 3D is anenlarged view of a portion of FIG. 3B including a user interface 313 ofthe NMD 320. Referring first to FIGS. 3A-3C, the NMD 320 includes ahousing 316 comprising an upper portion 316 a, a lower portion 316 b andan intermediate portion 316 c (e.g., a grille). A plurality of ports,holes or apertures 316 d in the upper portion 316 a allow sound to passthrough to one or more microphones 315 (FIG. 3C) positioned within thehousing 316. The one or more microphones 316 are configured to receivedsound via the apertures 316 d and produce electrical signals based onthe received sound. In the illustrated embodiment, a frame 316 e (FIG.3C) of the housing 316 surrounds cavities 316 f and 316 g configured tohouse, respectively, a first transducer 314 a (e.g., a tweeter) and asecond transducer 314 b (e.g., a mid-woofer, a midrange speaker, awoofer). In other embodiments, however, the NMD 320 includes a singletransducer, or more than two (e.g., two, five, six) transducers. Incertain embodiments, the NMD 320 omits the transducers 314 a and 314 baltogether.

Electronics 312 (FIG. 3C) includes components configured to drive thetransducers 314 a and 314 b, and further configured to analyze audiodata corresponding to the electrical signals produced by the one or moremicrophones 315. In some embodiments, for example, the electronics 312comprises many or all of the components of the electronics 112 describedabove with respect to FIG. 1C. In certain embodiments, the electronics312 includes components described above with respect to FIG. 1F such as,for example, the one or more processors 112 a, the memory 112 b, thesoftware components 112 c, the network interface 112 d, etc. In someembodiments, the electronics 312 includes additional suitable components(e.g., proximity or other sensors).

Referring to FIG. 3D, the user interface 313 includes a plurality ofcontrol surfaces (e.g., buttons, knobs, capacitive surfaces) including afirst control surface 313 a (e.g., a previous control), a second controlsurface 313 b (e.g., a next control), and a third control surface 313 c(e.g., a play and/or pause control). A fourth control surface 313 d isconfigured to receive touch input corresponding to activation anddeactivation of the one or microphones 315. A first indicator 313 e(e.g., one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) or another suitableilluminator) can be configured to illuminate only when the one or moremicrophones 315 are activated. A second indicator 313 f (e.g., one ormore LEDs) can be configured to remain solid during normal operation andto blink or otherwise change from solid to indicate a detection of voiceactivity. In some embodiments, the user interface 313 includesadditional or fewer control surfaces and illuminators. In oneembodiment, for example, the user interface 313 includes the firstindicator 313 e, omitting the second indicator 313 f. Moreover, incertain embodiments, the NMD 320 comprises a playback device and acontrol device, and the user interface 313 comprises the user interfaceof the control device.

Referring to FIGS. 3A-3D together, the NMD 320 is configured to receivevoice commands from one or more adjacent users via the one or moremicrophones 315. As described above with respect to FIG. 1B, the one ormore microphones 315 can acquire, capture, or record sound in a vicinity(e.g., a region within 10 m or less of the NMD 320) and transmitelectrical signals corresponding to the recorded sound to theelectronics 312. The electronics 312 can process the electrical signalsand can analyze the resulting audio data to determine a presence of oneor more voice commands (e.g., one or more activation words). In someembodiments, for example, after detection of one or more suitable voicecommands, the NMD 320 is configured to transmit a portion of therecorded audio data to another device and/or a remote server (e.g., oneor more of the computing devices 106 of FIG. 1B) for further analysis.The remote server can analyze the audio data, determine an appropriateaction based on the voice command, and transmit a message to the NMD 320to perform the appropriate action. For instance, a user may speak“Sonos, play Michael Jackson.” The NMD 320 can, via the one or moremicrophones 315, record the user's voice utterance, determine thepresence of a voice command, and transmit the audio data having thevoice command to a remote server (e.g., one or more of the remotecomputing devices 106 of FIG. 1B, one or more servers of a VAS and/oranother suitable service). The remote server can analyze the audio dataand determine an action corresponding to the command. The remote servercan then transmit a command to the NMD 320 to perform the determinedaction (e.g., play back audio content related to Michael Jackson). TheNMD 320 can receive the command and play back the audio content relatedto Michael Jackson from a media content source. As described above withrespect to FIG. 1B, suitable content sources can include a device orstorage communicatively coupled to the NMD 320 via a LAN (e.g., thenetwork 104 of FIG. 1B), a remote server (e.g., one or more of theremote computing devices 106 of FIG. 1B), etc. In certain embodiments,however, the NMD 320 determines and/or performs one or more actionscorresponding to the one or more voice commands without intervention orinvolvement of an external device, computer, or server.

FIG. 3E is a functional block diagram showing additional features of theNMD 320 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The NMD 320includes components configured to facilitate voice command captureincluding voice activity detector component(s) 312 k, beam formercomponents 312 l, acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and/or self-soundsuppression components 312 m, activation word detector components 312 n,and voice/speech conversion components 312 o (e.g., voice-to-text andtext-to-voice). In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3E, the foregoingcomponents 312 k-312 o are shown as separate components. In someembodiments, however, one or more of the components 312 k-312 o aresubcomponents of the processors 112 a.

The beamforming and self-sound suppression components 312 l and 312 mare configured to detect an audio signal and determine aspects of voiceinput represented in the detected audio signal, such as the direction,amplitude, frequency spectrum, etc. The voice activity detector activitycomponents 312 k are operably coupled with the beamforming and AECcomponents 312 l and 312 m and are configured to determine a directionand/or directions from which voice activity is likely to have occurredin the detected audio signal. Potential speech directions can beidentified by monitoring metrics which distinguish speech from othersounds. Such metrics can include, for example, energy within the speechband relative to background noise and entropy within the speech band,which is measure of spectral structure. As those of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate, speech typically has a lower entropy than mostcommon background noise.

The activation word detector components 312 n are configured to monitorand analyze received audio to determine if any activation words (e.g.,wake words) are present in the received audio. The activation worddetector components 312 n may analyze the received audio using anactivation word detection algorithm. If the activation word detector 312n detects an activation word, the NMD 320 may process voice inputcontained in the received audio. Example activation word detectionalgorithms accept audio as input and provide an indication of whether anactivation word is present in the audio. Many first- and third-partyactivation word detection algorithms are known and commerciallyavailable. For instance, operators of a voice service may make theiralgorithm available for use in third-party devices. Alternatively, analgorithm may be trained to detect certain activation words. In someembodiments, the activation word detector 312 n runs multiple activationword detection algorithms on the received audio simultaneously (orsubstantially simultaneously). As noted above, different voice services(e.g. AMAZON's ALEXA®, APPLE's SIRI®, or MICROSOFT's CORTANA®) can eachuse a different activation word for invoking their respective voiceservice. To support multiple services, the activation word detector 312n may run the received audio through the activation word detectionalgorithm for each supported voice service in parallel.

The speech/text conversion components 312 o may facilitate processing byconverting speech in the voice input to text. In some embodiments, theelectronics 312 can include voice recognition software that is trainedto a particular user or a particular set of users associated with ahousehold. Such voice recognition software may implementvoice-processing algorithms that are tuned to specific voice profile(s).Tuning to specific voice profiles may require less computationallyintensive algorithms than traditional voice activity services, whichtypically sample from a broad base of users and diverse requests thatare not targeted to media playback systems.

FIG. 3F is a schematic diagram of an example voice input 328 captured bythe NMD 320 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The voiceinput 328 can include a activation word portion 328 a and a voiceutterance portion 328 b. In some embodiments, the activation word 557 acan be a known activation word, such as “Alexa,” which is associatedwith AMAZON's ALEXA®. In other embodiments, however, the voice input 328may not include a activation word. In some embodiments, a networkmicrophone device may output an audible and/or visible response upondetection of the activation word portion 328 a. In addition oralternately, an NMB may output an audible and/or visible response afterprocessing a voice input and/or a series of voice inputs.

The voice utterance portion 328 b may include, for example, one or morespoken commands (identified individually as a first command 328 c and asecond command 328 e) and one or more spoken keywords (identifiedindividually as a first keyword 328 d and a second keyword 328 f). Inone example, the first command 328 c can be a command to play music,such as a specific song, album, playlist, etc. In this example, thekeywords may be one or words identifying one or more zones in which themusic is to be played, such as the Living Room and the Dining Room shownin FIG. 1A. In some examples, the voice utterance portion 328 b caninclude other information, such as detected pauses (e.g., periods ofnon-speech) between words spoken by a user, as shown in FIG. 3F. Thepauses may demarcate the locations of separate commands, keywords, orother information spoke by the user within the voice utterance portion328 b.

In some embodiments, the media playback system 100 is configured totemporarily reduce the volume of audio content that it is playing whiledetecting the activation word portion 557 a. The media playback system100 may restore the volume after processing the voice input 328, asshown in FIG. 3F. Such a process can be referred to as ducking, examplesof which are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0242653titled “Voice Control of a Media Playback System,” the relevantdisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIGS. 4A-4D are schematic diagrams of a control device 430 (e.g., thecontrol device 130 a of FIG. 1H, a smartphone, a tablet, a dedicatedcontrol device, an IoT device, and/or another suitable device) showingcorresponding user interface displays in various states of operation. Afirst user interface display 431 a (FIG. 4A) includes a display name 433a (i.e., “Rooms”). A selected group region 433 b displays audio contentinformation (e.g., artist name, track name, album art) of audio contentplayed back in the selected group and/or zone. Group regions 433 c and433 d display corresponding group and/or zone name, and audio contentinformation audio content played back or next in a playback queue of therespective group or zone. An audio content region 433 e includesinformation related to audio content in the selected group and/or zone(i.e., the group and/or zone indicated in the selected group region 433b). A lower display region 433 f is configured to receive touch input todisplay one or more other user interface displays. For example, if auser selects “Browse” in the lower display region 433 f, the controldevice 430 can be configured to output a second user interface display431 b (FIG. 4B) comprising a plurality of music services 433 g (e.g.,Spotify, Radio by Tunein, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, TV, local music,line-in) through which the user can browse and from which the user canselect media content for play back via one or more playback devices(e.g., one of the playback devices 110 of FIG. 1A). Alternatively, ifthe user selects “My Sonos” in the lower display region 433 f, thecontrol device 430 can be configured to output a third user interfacedisplay 431 c (FIG. 4C). A first media content region 433 h can includegraphical representations (e.g., album art) corresponding to individualalbums, stations, or playlists. A second media content region 433 i caninclude graphical representations (e.g., album art) corresponding toindividual songs, tracks, or other media content. If the user selectionsa graphical representation 433 j (FIG. 4C), the control device 430 canbe configured to begin play back of audio content corresponding to thegraphical representation 433 j and output a fourth user interfacedisplay 431 d fourth user interface display 431 d includes an enlargedversion of the graphical representation 433 j, media content information433 k (e.g., track name, artist, album), transport controls 433 m (e.g.,play, previous, next, pause, volume), and indication 433 n of thecurrently selected group and/or zone name.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a control device 530 (e.g., a laptopcomputer, a desktop computer). The control device 530 includestransducers 534, a microphone 535, and a camera 536. A user interface531 includes a transport control region 533 a, a playback status region533 b, a playback zone region 533 c, a playback queue region 533 d, anda media content source region 533 e. The transport control regioncomprises one or more controls for controlling media playback including,for example, volume, previous, play/pause, next, repeat, shuffle, trackposition, crossfade, equalization, etc. The audio content source region533 e includes a listing of one or more media content sources from whicha user can select media items for play back and/or adding to a playbackqueue.

The playback zone region 533 b can include representations of playbackzones within the media playback system 100 (FIGS. 1A and 1B). In someembodiments, the graphical representations of playback zones may beselectable to bring up additional selectable icons to manage orconfigure the playback zones in the media playback system, such as acreation of bonded zones, creation of zone groups, separation of zonegroups, renaming of zone groups, etc. In the illustrated embodiment, a“group” icon is provided within each of the graphical representations ofplayback zones. The “group” icon provided within a graphicalrepresentation of a particular zone may be selectable to bring upoptions to select one or more other zones in the media playback systemto be grouped with the particular zone. Once grouped, playback devicesin the zones that have been grouped with the particular zone can beconfigured to play audio content in synchrony with the playbackdevice(s) in the particular zone. Analogously, a “group” icon may beprovided within a graphical representation of a zone group. In theillustrated embodiment, the “group” icon may be selectable to bring upoptions to deselect one or more zones in the zone group to be removedfrom the zone group. In some embodiments, the control device 530includes other interactions and implementations for grouping andungrouping zones via the user interface 531. In certain embodiments, therepresentations of playback zones in the playback zone region 533 b canbe dynamically updated as playback zone or zone group configurations aremodified.

The playback status region 533 c includes graphical representations ofaudio content that is presently being played, previously played, orscheduled to play next in the selected playback zone or zone group. Theselected playback zone or zone group may be visually distinguished onthe user interface, such as within the playback zone region 533 b and/orthe playback queue region 533 d. The graphical representations mayinclude track title, artist name, album name, album year, track length,and other relevant information that may be useful for the user to knowwhen controlling the media playback system 100 via the user interface531.

The playback queue region 533 d includes graphical representations ofaudio content in a playback queue associated with the selected playbackzone or zone group. In some embodiments, each playback zone or zonegroup may be associated with a playback queue containing informationcorresponding to zero or more audio items for playback by the playbackzone or zone group. For instance, each audio item in the playback queuemay comprise a uniform resource identifier (URI), a uniform resourcelocator (URL) or some other identifier that may be used by a playbackdevice in the playback zone or zone group to find and/or retrieve theaudio item from a local audio content source or a networked audiocontent source, possibly for playback by the playback device. In someembodiments, for example, a playlist can be added to a playback queue,in which information corresponding to each audio item in the playlistmay be added to the playback queue. In some embodiments, audio items ina playback queue may be saved as a playlist. In certain embodiments, aplayback queue may be empty, or populated but “not in use” when theplayback zone or zone group is playing continuously streaming audiocontent, such as Internet radio that may continue to play untilotherwise stopped, rather than discrete audio items that have playbackdurations. In some embodiments, a playback queue can include Internetradio and/or other streaming audio content items and be “in use” whenthe playback zone or zone group is playing those items.

When playback zones or zone groups are “grouped” or “ungrouped,”playback queues associated with the affected playback zones or zonegroups may be cleared or re-associated. For example, if a first playbackzone including a first playback queue is grouped with a second playbackzone including a second playback queue, the established zone group mayhave an associated playback queue that is initially empty, that containsaudio items from the first playback queue (such as if the secondplayback zone was added to the first playback zone), that contains audioitems from the second playback queue (such as if the first playback zonewas added to the second playback zone), or a combination of audio itemsfrom both the first and second playback queues. Subsequently, if theestablished zone group is ungrouped, the resulting first playback zonemay be re-associated with the previous first playback queue, or beassociated with a new playback queue that is empty or contains audioitems from the playback queue associated with the established zone groupbefore the established zone group was ungrouped. Similarly, theresulting second playback zone may be re-associated with the previoussecond playback queue, or be associated with a new playback queue thatis empty, or contains audio items from the playback queue associatedwith the established zone group before the established zone group wasungrouped.

FIG. 6 is a message flow diagram illustrating data exchanges betweendevices of the media playback system 100 (FIGS. 1A-1M).

At step 650 a, the media playback system 100 receives an indication ofselected media content (e.g., one or more songs, albums, playlists,podcasts, videos, stations) via the control device 130 a. The selectedmedia content can comprise, for example, media items stored locally onor more devices (e.g., the audio source 105 of FIG. 1C) connected to themedia playback system and/or media items stored on one or more mediaservice servers (one or more of the remote computing devices 106 of FIG.1B). In response to receiving the indication of the selected mediacontent, the control device 130 a transmits a message 651 a to theplayback device 110 a (FIGS. 1A-1C) to add the selected media content toa playback queue on the playback device 110 a.

At step 650 b, the playback device 110 a receives the message 651 a andadds the selected media content to the playback queue for play back.

At step 650 c, the control device 130 a receives input corresponding toa command to play back the selected media content. In response toreceiving the input corresponding to the command to play back theselected media content, the control device 130 a transmits a message 651b to the playback device 110 a causing the playback device 110 a to playback the selected media content. In response to receiving the message651 b, the playback device 110 a transmits a message 651 c to thecomputing device 106 a requesting the selected media content. Thecomputing device 106 a, in response to receiving the message 651 c,transmits a message 651 d comprising data (e.g., audio data, video data,a URL, a URI) corresponding to the requested media content.

At step 650 d, the playback device 110 a receives the message 651 d withthe data corresponding to the requested media content and plays back theassociated media content.

At step 650 e, the playback device 110 a optionally causes one or moreother devices to play back the selected media content. In one example,the playback device 110 a is one of a bonded zone of two or more players(FIG. 1M). The playback device 110 a can receive the selected mediacontent and transmit all or a portion of the media content to otherdevices in the bonded zone. In another example, the playback device 110a is a coordinator of a group and is configured to transmit and receivetiming information from one or more other devices in the group. Theother one or more devices in the group can receive the selected mediacontent from the computing device 106 a, and begin playback of theselected media content in response to a message from the playback device110 a such that all of the devices in the group play back the selectedmedia content in synchrony.

IV. Mobile Devices with Graphical User Interface for Accessing PodcastsPodcast Browser Views

Mobile devices may be used as playback devices and/or control deviceswithin a playback system or outside of the playback system (e.g., tointeract with playback devices or control devices in the playbacksystem). Mobile devices in accordance with several embodiments of theinvention include a media player application that is configured toaccess and play back podcast content on one or more playback devices ina media playback system such as those described further above. The mediaplayer application can provide a browser to search for and/or viewpodcasts, a player screen that shows what content is currently playing,and/or additional functions that are features specific to podcasts(e.g., resuming where playback was left off, subscribing to podcastchannels). In several embodiments, playback can be controlled within themedia player application by selecting which playback device(s) or groupsof playback devices to play back the selected podcast. Availablepodcasts are typically set up as audio sources within the media playerapplication and associated with a user account. Podcast playback can besynchronized for a user account across playback devices, even thoseoutside of the media playback system, so that information about anepisode displays the listener's progress (e.g., a last playbacklocation) through the episode.

In several embodiments, a media player application on a mobile devicecan display a Podcast Browser View screen that provides informationrelevant to a particular podcast. Similar to a an album or playlist viewthat would give information about an album or playlist (e.g., albumtitle, artist, length, etc.), an Podcast Browser View can providepodcast information about a podcast, such as, but not limited tothumbnail (e.g., album art), podcast title, podcast publisher, serviceattribution, and/or podcast description. It can also list episodes, withassociated episode information, such as, but not limited to episodetitle, episode date, and/or length of episode or time left in episode.FIG. 7 illustrates a Podcast Browser View in a graphical user interfaceon a mobile device in accordance with several embodiments of theinvention.

Various components can be shown in a Podcast Browser View. FIG. 7Aillustrates a Podcast Browser View in a graphical user interface on amobile device in accordance with several embodiments of the invention,where each component is labeled. In many embodiments of the invention, aTitle Component can contain podcast information about a podcast, suchas, but not limited to thumbnail (e.g., album art), podcast title,podcast publisher, service attribution, and/or podcast description. AHeader Component at the top of the screen can contain the title of thebroadcast as well as other information on the podcast series and/orepisodes. In several embodiments, the title is shown in the HeaderComponent only when the Title Component is not in view (e.g., isscrolled off the screen). Furthermore, the Header Component can “stick”or “dock” to the top of the view when it is scrolled out of view.

A Podcast Description Component can provide a text description of thepodcast. It can be collapsed shorter to two or three lines with aselectable option “More” to show the full description. An ActionComponent can provide selectable buttons to take actions such as “Play”and “Subscribe.” Selecting “Play” starts playback of an episode of thepodcast. When an episode has been played previously and the lastposition is saved, the button can display as “Resume” which results instarting playback at the saved position. In different embodiments,playback starts at the most recent episode, the most recent episode notyet played, the earliest episode, or the earliest episode not yetplayed. In additional embodiments, an option can be set within the mediaplayer application for how playback is preferred to start. Selecting“Subscribe” can save the current podcast to a user profile. Additionalfunctions can be enabled with subscribing to a podcast, such asautomatically downloading future or all episodes or receivingnotifications when new episodes are released.

The Podcast Browser View can also list episodes in an Episode ListComponent, with associated episode information, such as, but not limitedto episode title, episode date, and/or length of episode or time left inepisode. Additional elements can be shown in various embodiments of theinvention, such as a histogram or animated histogram next to aparticular episode while is playing and a pie chart or other type ofchart showing progress of how much of an episode has been listened to.In addition, an ellipses or other icon may indicate the ability toselect to bring up an option menu. An Episode Filter Component can beused to sort or filter the podcast episodes that are listed. Forexample, episodes of a certain age or episodes already listened to canbe hidden. Similar to the Header Component, an Episode Filter Componentmay “stick” or “dock” to the top of the view when it is scrolled out ofview. FIG. 8 illustrates a Podcast Browser View screen in accordancewith several embodiments of the invention that has been scrolled downthe episode list so that the Header Component and Episode FilterComponent have docked to the top of the screen.

In different embodiments of the invention, a Podcast Browser View showdifferent combinations of the components discussed above. For example, afirst combination may be a Title Component and an Episode ListComponent. A second combination may include a Title Component, a PodcastDescription Component, an Action Component, and an Episode ListComponent. A third combination may include a Title Component, a PodcastDescription Component, an Action Component, an Episode Filter Component,and an Episode List Component.

In additional embodiments of the invention, a Podcast Browser List Viewscreen shows an overview of one or more podcast channels that areavailable, e.g., from a particular podcast service, saved to the userprofile of the user, or in a playlist. This view can show informationsuch as, but not limited to, the podcast title of each podcast, podcastpublisher, and/or podcast description. FIG. 9 illustrates a PodcastBrowser List View screen in accordance with several embodiments of theinvention that lists four podcasts. Selecting a podcast from this screencan lead to, for example, the Podcast Browser View screen discussedfurther above or a pop-up screen with available options for that podcastchannel.

In several views that allow selection of a podcast or podcast episode,such as the Podcast Browser List View screen, making such a selectioncan pop up (e.g., slide from below) a contextual menu. A screen that maydisplay a contextual menu in accordance with several embodiments of theinvention is illustrated in FIG. 10. The menu can have options forselection such as, but not limited to: Play Now (e.g., play the selectedpodcast), Play Next (e.g., add to queue to play after the currentpodcast), Add to My favorites (e.g., save to user profile favorites),Add to My Playlist (e.g., add to user profile playlist), and/or Add toEnd of Queue (e.g., add to end of the play queue). The PodcastDescription section may be collapsed to a fewer number of lines andexpanded by selecting “More.” A screen that may display a contextualmenu with an expanded Podcast Description in accordance with severalembodiments of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 11.

While a number of screens and screen elements are described above withrespect to FIGS. 7-11, one skilled in the art will recognize thatelements may not need to appear exactly in the manner or in thepositions illustrated. Screen elements may be adapted as suitable to anyparticular application.

More Options Submenu

Streamlined submenus can be important to user experience within a mediaplayer interface. Particularly on mobile devices, where the screen maybe small or challenging to navigate, the fewer steps that are necessaryto navigate to different options can make a big difference in usability.The figures discussed next illustrate options in menus that areparticularly relevant to podcasts and podcast playback.

FIG. 12 illustrates a Song Browser View in accordance with someembodiments of the invention. FIG. 13 illustrates a Song Options Menuthat may be entered by, for example, selecting the ellipses “ . . . ” ina screen such as FIG. 12. Selecting “Play in Another Room . . . ” canallow selection of one or more playback devices or groups of playbackdevices for playing the selected song. Playback devices or groups may beassociated with groups and labeled in a way that can be selected by theassociated room. Such selection process can be implemented by processesdiscussed above and in materials incorporated by reference herein.Adding to a Playlist can add the song to a playlist associated with theuser profile. Similarly, Adding to Queue can manipulate the queue ofsongs that are being played back. Further, Saving and Removing to YourMusic can maintain a favorites list associated with the user profile.

FIG. 14 illustrates another Podcast Browser View in accordance withadditional embodiments of the invention. FIG. 15 illustrates a PodcastEpisode Options Menu that may be entered by, for example, selecting theellipses “ . . . ” next to an episode in a screen such as FIG. 14.Several options may be selected, including “Add this Episode to My List”(add to user profile favorites) and “Subscribe to This Series” (e.g.,subscribe the user profile to this podcast series). Subscribing canassociate the podcast to the podcast user profile in the podcast serviceand/or podcast channel, so that playback devices associated with thepodcast user profile receive updates or otherwise respond appropriatelywhen new episodes are published. Other options may be similar to thosedescribed with respect to FIG. 13 above.

FIG. 16 illustrates another Podcast Browser View in accordance withadditional embodiments of the invention. FIG. 17 illustrates a PodcastSeries Options Menu that may be entered by, for example, selecting theellipses “ . . . ” next to the title of the podcast series in a screensuch as FIG. 16. Several options may be selected, including “Subscribeto [Partner name]” (e.g., subscribe to that podcast service) and “AddSeries to My List” (add to user profile favorites). In some embodiments,[Partner name] represents a podcast service that offers multiple podcastchannels. Subscribing to a podcast service can provide updates acrossdifferent podcast channels associated with the podcast service. In otherembodiments, [Partner name] represents a podcast channel and subscribinginvolves receiving updates to that podcast channel. As mentioned furtherabove, updates can be implemented as any of a variety of features, suchas notifications and/or download of new episodes.

While a number of screens and screen elements are described above withrespect to FIGS. 12-17, one skilled in the art will recognize thatelements may not need to appear exactly in the manner or in thepositions illustrated. Screen elements may be adapted as suitable to anyparticular application.

Podcast Alarms

In many embodiments of the invention, a mobile device or other deviceusing the media player application may allow a user to set a podcast toplay as an alarm. Screens illustrating such capabilities are describedbelow with respect to FIGS. 18-25. FIG. 18 illustrates a menu screenthat may be shown on a mobile device having a graphical user interfacein accordance with several embodiments of the invention. In one example,the menu screen of FIG. 18 may be displayed in response to a selectionof an element on the interface that displays consistently across views,such as the “More” icon on the bottom of the control interface.Capturing user input selecting “Alarm” can prompt the interface topresent a next menu screen such as illustrated in FIG. 19 that allowssetting various parameters of a custom alarm, such as, but not limitedto, time, room for playback, music for playback, whether to repeat,volume, duration, snooze alerts, and/or snooze duration. Selecting“Music” can advance the interface to show a screen such as illustratedin FIG. 20. The screen shows various music/audio services that areavailable. Selecting “Podcast Service” or similar indicator prompts theinterface to show a podcast service screen such as illustrated in FIG.21. The podcast service may be any streaming audio service that providespodcast content and has been configured as an audio source for the mediaplayback system. The podcast service screen shows options such asPodcasts, New Releases, In Progress, and Starred. Other embodiments mayhave different or reordered options. Selecting “Podcasts” results inshowing a screen such as illustrated in FIG. 22. In several embodiments,selecting a particular podcast in this screen returns to the menu screenin FIG. 23 with the chosen podcast title under “Podcast,” which is anupdated version of the menu shown in FIG. 19. Selecting “Play Options”can turn up a menu such as that illustrated in FIG. 24. These optionscan include Continuous Listening (e.g., playing back additional episodesafter a previous finishes) and the choice of whether to play the newestepisode in the podcast series or another listed episode.

The selection of the newest episode may configure the alarm to playbackthe most recent episode regardless of whether another, older episode hascompleted playback yet. In one case, the newest episode may be playedfrom the beginning each time. In another case, if the newest episode hasbeen partially played back, the alarm will begin playback where playbackof the newest episode was previously stopped. This can be synchronizedfor the particular podcast channel and/or podcast service for the useracross playback devices, even playback devices that are not part of themedia playback system. Additional lines of text can be provided forselecting past episodes to play for the alarm. In some embodiments,playback can continue with a next older or next newer episode afterplaying the selected episode. Other examples are also possible.

Other options may also be provided on the menu, but not shown in FIG.24. For instance, an option for the alarm may be to automatically pick apodcast episode from a subscribed series that has not yet been playedback. Within the option of automatically picking a not-yet playedepisode may be whether a newest, oldest, or random episode that has notyet been played back is picked. FIG. 25 illustrates an alternative viewof the screen where the Continuous Listening feature is toggled on.

While a number of screens and screen elements are described above withrespect to FIGS. 18-25, one skilled in the art will recognize thatelements may not need to appear exactly in the manner or in thepositions illustrated. Screen elements may be adapted as suitable to anyparticular application.

V. Conclusion

The above discussions relating to playback devices, control devices,playback zone configurations, and media content sources provide onlysome examples of operating environments within which functions andmethods described below may be implemented. Other operating environmentsand configurations of media playback systems, playback devices, andnetwork devices not explicitly described herein may also be applicableand suitable for implementation of the functions and methods.

The description above discloses, among other things, various examplesystems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture including,among other components, firmware and/or software executed on hardware.It is understood that such examples are merely illustrative and shouldnot be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that anyor all of the firmware, hardware, and/or software aspects or componentscan be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software,exclusively in firmware, or in any combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Accordingly, the examples provided are not the onlyways) to implement such systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture.

Additionally, references herein to “embodiment” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment can be included in at least one example embodiment of aninvention. The appearances of this phrase in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment,nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of otherembodiments. As such, the embodiments described herein, explicitly andimplicitly understood by one skilled in the art, can be combined withother embodiments.

The specification is presented largely in terms of illustrativeenvironments, systems, procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, andother symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble theoperations of data processing devices coupled to networks. These processdescriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled inthe art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it isunderstood to those skilled in the art that certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure can be practiced without certain, specific details.In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, andcircuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring aspects of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than theforegoing description of embodiments.

When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at leastone example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible,non-transitory medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on,storing the software and/or firmware.

What is claimed is:
 1. A playback system for audio content comprising afirst playback device and a mobile device, the mobile device comprising:one or more processors; tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium having stored thereon instructions executable by the one or moreprocessors to perform a method comprising: capturing user inputselecting an alarm function on a graphical user interface; capturinguser input selecting a time for playing an alarm on the first playbackdevice; capturing user input selecting an audio service, where the audioservice is a podcast service; capturing user input selecting a podcastchannel; updating the graphical user interface to reflect the selectedpodcast channel; capturing user input specifying what order to playpodcast episodes from the selected podcast channel; starting playback ofa first podcast episode on the first playback device according to thespecified order to play podcast episodes by the previous user input andthe selected time for playing an alarm.
 2. The playback system of claim2, wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors toperform a method further comprises: continuing playback of a secondpodcast episode on the first playback device according to the specifiedorder to play podcast episodes.
 3. The playback system of claim 1further comprising a second playback device, where starting playback ofa first podcast episode further comprises playing back the first podcastepisode on the first playback device and the second playback device,when the fist playback device and second playback device are in a group.4. The playback system of claim 3, wherein the instructions executableby the one or more processors to perform a method further comprises:capturing user input directing the alarm to playback to the firstplayback device and the second playback device.
 5. The playback systemof claim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the one or moreprocessors to perform a method further comprises: capturing user inputsetting a snooze alert and snooze duration.
 6. The playback system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the one or moreprocessors to perform a method further comprises: capturing user inputsetting a volume for the alarm.
 7. The playback system of claim 1, wherethe order to play podcast episodes from the selected podcast channel ischronological from most recent to oldest.
 8. The playback system ofclaim 1, where the order to play podcast episodes from the selectedpodcast channel is chronological from oldest to most recent.
 9. Aplayback system for audio content comprising a first playback device anda mobile device, the mobile device comprising: one or more processors;tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereoninstructions executable by the one or more processors to perform amethod comprising: providing a podcast browser view screen on agraphical user interface with information about a podcast channelincluding a title, list of episodes, and status of playback of each ofthe listed episodes, and play controls that allow playback of episodesin the podcast channel, where one play control starts playback ofepisodes continuously one after another; capturing user input selectinga first playback device for playback of audio content; capturing userinput directing the first playback device to play a first podcastepisode containing audio content; starting playback of the first podcastepisode on the first playback device.
 10. The playback system of claim9, where the podcast browser view screen further includes one playcontrol that starts playback at a location where playback was previouslystopped.
 11. The playback system of claim 9, wherein the instructionsexecutable by the one or more processors to perform a method furthercomprises: continuing playback of a second podcast episode on the firstplayback device according to a specified order to play podcast episodes.12. The playback system of claim 11 where the order to play podcastepisodes from the selected podcast channel is chronological from mostrecent to oldest.
 13. The playback system of claim 11, where the orderto play podcast episodes from the selected podcast channel ischronological from oldest to most recent.
 14. The playback system ofclaim 9 further comprising a second playback device, where startingplayback of a first podcast episode further comprises playing back thefirst podcast episode on the first playback device and the secondplayback device, when the fist playback device and second playbackdevice are in a group.
 15. The playback system of claim 9, wherein aheader component of the podcast browser view screen docks to the top ofthe screen when a title component scrolls off the screen, where theheader component contains only a podcast title and the title componentcontains the podcast title, a podcast publisher, and a podcastdescription.
 16. A playback system for audio content comprising a firstplayback device and a mobile device, the mobile device comprising: oneor more processors; tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving stored thereon instructions executable by the one or moreprocessors to perform a method comprising: providing a podcast episodeoptions menu screen on a graphical user interface with selectionsconcerning a podcast episode including starting playback of the podcastepisode to the fist playback device, starting playback to a secondplayback device, adding the podcast episode to a queue, saving thepodcast episode to a favorites list, and subscribing to a podcastchannel associated with the podcast episode; capturing user inputdirecting the first playback device to play the podcast episode;starting playback of the podcast episode on the first playback device.17. The playback system of claim 16, wherein the instructions executableby the one or more processors to perform a method further comprisescapturing user input directing both the first playback device and secondplayback device to play the podcast episode as a group; startingplayback of the podcast episode on the first playback device and secondplayback device.
 18. The playback system of claim 16, wherein theinstructions executable by the one or more processors to perform amethod further comprising capturing user input selecting an order toplay podcast episodes from the selected podcast channel.
 19. Theplayback system of claim 18, where the order to play podcast episodesfrom the selected podcast channel is chronological from most recent tooldest.
 20. The playback system of claim 18, where the order to playpodcast episodes from the selected podcast channel is chronological fromoldest to most recent.